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Points of Pride

Stature and value

The Carnegie Foundation classifies WMU as one of the nation’s 147 public research universities.

U.S. News & World Report has designated WMU one of the country’s best national universities for 24 consecutive years and has placed it in the top tier of those universities annually since creating the tier five years ago.

Phi Beta Kappa, America’s most prestigious honor society, has chosen to grant chapters to WMU and just 99 other public institutions.

The Princeton Review includes WMU on its annual list of Best Midwestern Colleges.

Military Times EDGE magazine ranks WMU among the best U.S. institutions for military veterans, and WMU is the only Michigan school to have appeared on all five years of its annual Best for Vets list.

GI Jobs magazine has continuously included WMU on its list of Military Friendly Schools.

Washington Monthly categorizes WMU as both a top-100 national university and a Best Bang for the Buck school.

Money magazine named WMU in 2014 to its inaugural list of Best Colleges for Your Money.

Within three months of graduation, 89 percent of WMU graduates are employed, engaged in military service or continuing their education.

Size and complexity

WMU is one of only 90 universities in the nation with both a medical school and a law school under its aegis.

Seven degree-granting colleges offer 251 distinct degree programs, and with 147 of them undergraduate level, WMU has the second most undergraduate programs of any public university in Michigan.

The University bolsters teaching and research by sponsoring more than 50 specialized institutes and centers as well as a variety of state, national and international journals and conferences.

WMU has a diverse campus, with minority groups making up 21 percent of the student body and international students 8 percent.

Students can choose from more than 90 WMU-operated study abroad programs in some 40 countries and have access to countless more through the University’s worldwide linkages with other institutions and organizations.

Exploring professional and personal interests is made easy through 379 registered student organizations as well as scores of intramural sports and wellness and fitness programs.

Sustainability

WMU is a founding member of the Alliance for Resilient Campuses, a nationwide network formed in 2014 by colleges and universities that have committed to leading the nation’s response to many of the challenges triggered by changing global weather patterns.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Center for Green Schools named WMU the 2014 Best of Green Schools recipient in its higher education category. Just 10 schools and individuals were honored nationwide as the top innovators in school sustainability at all educational levels.

Second Nature, the nation’s leading collegiate climate action organization, presented a 2014 Climate Leadership Award to WMU in recognition of campus innovation and leadership.

The higher education website BestChoiceSchools.com ranked WMU No. 13 on its 2014 list of the nation’s 50 most affordable, eco-friendly colleges. WMU was the highest-placing college in Michigan.

STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, gave WMU a gold rating in 2014—the first year the University registered to participate in the system.

The University constructed America’s first higher education building to receive gold-level certification for meeting standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings.

WMU is a LEED leader, having 12 fully certified facilities with eight more registered and still going through the certification process.

Transportation Evolved, a British online publication, ranked WMU fourth on its 2014 list the most electric vehicle friendly colleges in the United States. The university has 22 EV charging stations, one more than could be found at fifth-place Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The most recent green report card from the Sustainable Endowments Institute puts WMU in an elite cadre of some 80 institutions nationwide that are billed as Campus Sustainability Leaders. WMU is one of only three Michigan universities in this group.

WMU was one of 29 U.S. college’s and universities, and only two in Michigan, to be recognized as a Tree Campus USA school during the program’s inaugural year in 2008 and has received this national Arbor Day Foundation designation seven consecutive times.

The Environmental Protection Agency presented a 2013 College/University Partner of the Year Award to WMU for outstanding waste reduction achievements as a partner in WasteWise, the country’s first national voluntary solid waste reduction program.

In a statewide competition, the Detroit Free Press named WMU a 2013 Michigan Green Leader in the public sector category for its “remarkable range of green activities.”

WMU is a leader in stormwater management and by the end of 2013, the majority of its Kalamazoo campuses were stormwater neutral. Notably, the Parkview Campus has a storm sewer system that is 100 percent contained on site and does not contribute any runoff to off-site water bodies.